Gen. Erwin Rommel arrived in Africa's Western Desert in February 1941 to lead the elite German Afrika Korps in its efforts to support the battered Italians. Disobeying orders to remain on the defensive, Rommel attacked, nearly pushed the numerically superior British out of Libya, and besieged the critical port of Tobruk. Unable to capture it for the time being, Rommel's forces defeated two British attempts to relieve the garrison before withdrawing at the end of 1941. Seasoned by these months of desert warfare, Rommel stood ready to achieve his greatest successes in 1942.